Some unhappy with Monsignor Donovan name change

Monsignor Donovan High School’s 2014 graduates pause for a prayer during the graduation Mass and commencement at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Toms River.(Photo: Mike DeSocio/ Staff Photographer)Buy Photo

TOMS RIVER – After 31 years as Monsignor Donovan, the township-based high school will be known now as Donovan Catholic, Principal Edward Gere announced Tuesday.

Ocean County's only Catholic high school — like other Catholic schools across the nation — has experienced declining enrollment in recent years, which was part of the reason behind the name and image transformation, Gere said. School officials hired a marketing firm to help with the transition inside the 840-student school.

" 'Monsignor' is a difficult term in this day and age," Gere said. "The name change is really just one part of ... an opportunity to roll out our strategic plan."

Some students and graduates reacted with shock and anger when they learned the school would no longer be known colloquially as "Mon Don."

Shane McGrath, 17, of Howell is entering his senior year at the high school, and worries about replacing his $500 varsity jacket that bears the school's former name.

"Now it doesn't even represent the school that I go to," McGrath said. "I don't think it's really that big of a change, but I don't like it, personally."

Toms River, NJ -
Family and friends take photos of the graduating class at the 2014 Monsignor Donovan High School Graduation Mass and Commencement at the St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church.
Mike DeSocio/Staff Photographer

McGrath said he was not certain whether he would have to purchase new gym uniforms that carry the name Donovan Catholic, and if so, how much it would cost.

"I love the school," he said, but added his senior year might be more difficult as a result of the name change. "I'm talking to college coaches, and I'm going to have to tell them that my high school changed names."

This is the Hooper Avenue school's second name change since its founding in 1962 as St. Joseph High School. In 1983, the school was renamed in honor of Monsignor Lawrence Donovan.

"It's not fair to Father Lawrence Donovan, the man who truly founded this community," said recent graduate Adam Saluccio, 18, of Toms River.

Saluccio said his mother, aunt and cousins attended the Catholic high school, and his grandmother worked there.

"My grandmother knew Father Lawrence really well," he said. "I think credit should all be given to him and not taken away."

Monsignor Lawrence Donovan died in 1987 at the age of 75.

Other students protested the name change on Twitter with the hashtag #bringbackmondon.

Donovan Catholic's new name is part of a plan to become more attractive to prospective students. Catholic schools across the nation have struggled to stay open despite declining enrollment. In the early 1960s, about 13,000 Catholic schools operated in the United States, but enrollment has declined since, according to the National Catholic Education Association. Between 2004 and 2014, enrollment declined nationally by nearly 23 percent, or by more than 578,000 students. At the same time, more than 1,800 Catholic schools closed or consolidated.

Aiming to buck the trend, Donovan Catholic has taken other measures to expand its student body, such as accepting Chinese exchange students in recent years.

"We have a great product," Gere said. "We think that we have something to offer that our competitors do not."